Sep 03, 2023 12:30:00

Apple may become ``the only manufacturer to have TSMC manufacture 3nm chips'' within 2023

TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor contract manufacturing company located in Taiwan, has global technology manufacturers such as Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, and NVIDIA among its customers. TSMC has

started mass production of the next generation process ``N3'' with process rule 3nm in the fourth quarter of 2022, but it was reported that Apple will be the only one to manufacture chips using this N3 in 2023. Previously, it was rumored that Intel would start manufacturing 3nm chips at TSMC as early as the end of 2023, but this has been postponed until 2024, so Apple will exclusively manufacture TSMC's 3nm chips. It looks like it will be.

TSMC foresees volume boost for 3nm chips with incoming Intel order
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20230828PD223/3nm-intel-tsmc.html

TMSC 3nm chips exclusive to Apple this year, as Intel plan delayed
https://9to5mac.com/2023/08/29/tmsc-3nm-chips-apple/

Until the iPhone 6s, which was released in 2015, Apple had divided the SoC A series chips installed in the iPhone into two companies, TSMC and Samsung, and outsourced manufacturing. However, TSMC has continued to refine its process rules and has come to have a significant lead over Samsung in chip manufacturing technology.

As a result, Apple has outsourced all chip manufacturing to TSMC, starting with the A10 Fusion chip installed in the iPhone 7 released in 2016. TSMC is responsible for manufacturing not only the iPhone's A series chips but also the Apple silicon for Mac chips.

It is rumored that Apple will use TSMC's N3 from A17 Bionic, which will be installed in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max released in 2023.

TSMC has a ``contract not to claim for defective products of chips manufactured using the 3nm generation process'' with Apple, what is the reason? -GIGAZINE

Intel reportedly believes it needs 3nm chips made with TSMC's N3 to keep up with the performance and power efficiency of Apple silicon-powered Macs. However, Digitimes reported that it is impossible to start manufacturing 3nm chips within 2023 due to delays in Intel's new chip design. As a result, the 3nm chips manufactured by TSMC's N3 will only be Apple's latest chips within 2023.

In addition, problems in chip manufacturing are increasing due to the miniaturization of process rules, and it was reported that even TSMC is struggling to achieve the yield required for A17 Bionic production in 2023. In fact, in April 2023, TSMC revealed that it was unable to keep up with the demand for 3nm chips.

However, as the production volume of Apple's iPhone 15 series in 2023 will decrease and Intel's 3nm chip production will be postponed until 2024, TSMC will be able to supply 3nm chips for 2023 without any problems. It is considered that